Ships, Saints and Sealore: Cultural Heritage and Ethnography of the Mediterranean and the Red Sea

by Dionisius A Agius (Editor), Timmy Gambin (Editor), Athena Trakadas (Editor)

Overview

Just as the sea has played a pivotal role in the connectivity of people, economies and cultures, it has also provided a common platform for inter-disciplinary cooperation amongst academics. This book is a selection of conference papers and other contributions that has seen the coming-together of scholars and researchers from backgrounds as diverse as archaeology, history, ethnography, maritime and heritage studies of the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. Its strength lies in the way such diversity has been harnessed to provide an engaging and insightful study of the sea and its influences on various factors of life - both past and present.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781905739950
Publisher:	Archaeopress Publishing
Publication date:	07/28/2014
Edition description:	UK ed.
Pages:	180
Product dimensions:	8.27(w) x 11.65(h) x (d)

About the Author

Timmy Gambin obtained his BA from the Department of History at the University of Malta and went on to read for his M.A. in Maritime Archaeology and Ph D in Archaeology at the University of Bristol under the tutelage of Dr A.J. Parker at the University of Bristol. He is currently a senior lecturer at the Department of Classics and Archaeology, University of Malta and Director of Archaeology of the AURORA Special Purpose Trust. He has participated and directed numerous exploration surveys in Malta and elsewhere in the Mediterranean contributing to the discovery of numerous shipwrecks which vary in date from 800 BC to the last world war.

Athena Trakadas is a curator at the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde, Denmark, and co-editor of the Journal of Maritime Archaeology. She is a commercial diver and holds BAs in Classics and Anthropology, a MA in Nautical Archaeology, a Cand.Mag. in Roman Archaeology, and a Ph D in maritime archaeology.

Table of Contents

Foreword
Introduction: A seaman's view of the Mediterranean (Sean Mc Grail)
I. Maritime Rituals, Superstitions and Ship Images: Maritime activity and the Divine - an overview of religious expression by Mediterranean seafarers, fishermen and travellers (Timmy Gambin)
Hazards at sea: a case-study of two ex-voto paintings from the Church of the Karmelitani Skalzi in Bormla, Malta (Simon Mercieca)
II. Confraternities in Maritime Culture: The Holy Vessel: the Vascelluzzo of Messina during the early modern period (Carmelina Gugliuzzo)
Two maritime related confraternities established at Bormla (Cospicua) parish church, Malta (Emanuel Magro Conti)
III. Maritime Heritage: Historical Narratives: Quatri partitu en cosmographia pratica i por otro nombre llamado Espejo de navegantes by Alonso de Chaves: a navigation manual for the instruction of Spanish pilots in the sixteenth century (Maravillas Aguiar)
Images of pirates and slaves in traditional Greek popular songs (Efsevia Lasithiotaki)
IV. Ethnography, Tourism and Maritime Heritage: Sun, sand and sea: tourism and the commodification of Malta's maritime heritage (Jeremy Boissevain)
Work, tourism and the sea: Bulgarian experiences in Malta (Irina Atanasova)
Lateen sails versus fibreglass boats: the contradictions of a maritime heritage process - the Platja dels Pescadors on the Catalonian coast (Eliseu Carbonell)
The Maritime Museum of Barcelona's approach to maritime ethnology: research and communications (Enric Garcia Domingo)
V. Maritime Archaeology: Traditions and Practices: Sailing the Red Sea: ships, infrastructure, seafarers and society (Cheryl Ward)
The dghajsa: a Phoenician survival (Alec Tilley)
Maritime ethnography and archaeology (Sean Mc Grail)
The maritime heritage of Yemen: a focus on traditional wooden 'dhows' (Dionisius A. Agius, John P. Cooper and Chiara Zazzaro)
The huri of Socotra: cultural treasure or coastal trash? (Julian Jansen van Rensburg)
Index